The DrugSpot

We created this blog to highlight some of the many news stories out there involving drugs in some form or another. We plan on posting local, national, and world news articles, both stories that you may have heard about and stories that were probably overlooked or not reported by the mainstream media (which is what often happens). Basically, we think it would be nice to have an archive of some of the drug news stories we stumble across on a daily basis, and we'd like to share it with you.

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

Philly Kindergartner Found With Heroin

A kindergarten teacher found eight bags of heroin in a 5-year-old student's pocket, police said.The matter was under investigation and the boy's mother could be charged, police Inspector William Colarulo said.

The heroin was discovered Oct. 25. On Tuesday, the school sent a letter home to parents. The letter did not explain why the school waited three weeks to tell parents. It was sent home after a story about the incident aired on WCAU-TV.

Neither the child nor his classmates at Richmond Elementary School were harmed, a schools spokesman said.

"We are shocked and saddened, outraged" that a parent or parents could place a child in such danger, said spokesman Fernando Galliard.

The boy and his three siblings have been turned over to the city's Department of Human Services and placed in temporary custody, spokesman Ted Qualli said. The agency was looking for relatives who could eventually take care of the children.

Monday, November 07, 2005

Cocaine traces detected in River Thames

So much cocaine is being used in London that traces of the white powdered narcotic can be detected in the River Thames, the Sunday Telegraph newspaper said.

Citing scientific research which it had commissioned, it said an estimated two kilogrammes of cocaine, or 80,000 lines, spill into the river every day after it has passed through users’ bodies and sewage treatment plants.

It extrapolated that 150,000 lines of the illegal drug are snorted in the British capital every day, or 15 times higher than the official figure given by the Home Office.

“Because of the long-term complications of cocaine use, we are looking at a healthcare time bomb,” clinical toxologist John Henry was quoted as saying. Cocaine use has been in the headlines in Britain after fuzzy images of supermodel Kate Moss apparently enjoying some lines in a London recording studio were published in a tabloid newspaper.

Thursday, November 03, 2005

Cocaine Crazed Man Attacks Paramedics

STUDIO CITY - Answering a call for help turned life threatening for paramedics, when the person they were trying to help attacks them.

It happened late last night at an apartment on Magnolia Street in Studio City.

Paramedics answered to a call about a man who wasn't feeling well and when they got into the apartment authorities say the man locked the door behind them and began to beat them. Eventually officers and firefighters were able to gain control. Two paramedics and a police officer were sent to the hospital with minor injuries.

Lehi Child Given Cocaine At 'Trunk Or Treat'

KUTVLEHI, Utah "Trunk or treat" gatherings are supposed to be safe way for kids to treat or treat on Halloween. But now a drug investigation is underway after parents found cocaine in their daughter's candy basket.

On Halloween night costumed devils and angels and everything in between terrorize their neighbors, asking for sugary delights. Several communities congregate in parking lots, their trunks and tailgates take the place of their front door. These “trunk or treat” events are supposed to be a safe way to take kids trick or treating.

An LDS church parking lot in Lehi was packed with cars and people Monday night as little kids went from trunk to trunk to get candy. When one little girl returned home, her parents couldn't believe what they found in her basket.

"All I did was just dump it out," the girl’s mother told 2News. “…just to see if nothing looked suspicious."

It started out innocently enough for this Lehi mother who did not want to be identified. She was routinely sorting through Snickers, Smarties and suckers when she saw something out of place.

“I found this little vile off to the side,” said the mother. "I kind of just stared at it thinking ‘Is this really what I think it is?’”

Sure enough it was. The vial was inside a small plastic bag, and inside the vial – cocaine.

"We went there thinking it would be safer, well lit, people we know, families, kids not going to strangers houses," said the woman.

"It’s very upsetting to me because of the kid factor," said Lehi Police Chief Chad Smith. He said he'd never seen anything like it. But Smith believed the cocaine may not have been intended for a trick or treating.

"I think it was somebody's stash that got picked up with the candy bowl and hauled out to the trunk and treat by accident,” said Chief Smith. “Because do you ever know of a druggy yet that would give up their drugs? Never. They'd give up their mother before they give up their drugs."

Now it would seem not even trunk or treats are necessarily safe.

"I'm grateful I went through it because if I didn't she could have thought it was some Harry Potter candy," said the Utah County mother.

Police say this is a very difficult case to get a suspect on because there were so many people at the church parking lot with so many different kinds of costumes on.

If anyone knows anything about the case they are asked to call the Lehi Police Department.

Wednesday, November 02, 2005

Denver Voters OK Marijuana Possession

DENVER - Residents of the Mile High City have voted to legalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana for adults. Authorities, though, said state possession laws will be applied instead.

With 100 percent of precincts reporting early Wednesday, 54 percent, or 56,001 voters, cast ballots for the ordinance, while 46 percent, or 48,632 voters, voted against it.

Under the measure, residents over 21 years old could possess up to an ounce of marijuana.

"We educated voters about the facts that marijuana is less harmful to the user and society than alcohol," said Mason Tvert, campaign organizer for SAFER, or Safer Alternatives For Enjoyable Recreation. "To prohibit adults from making the rational, safer choice to use marijuana is bad public policy."

Bruce Mirken of the Washington, D.C.-based Marijuana Policy Project said he hoped the approval will launch a national trend toward legalizing a drug whose enforcement he said causes more problems than it cures.

Seattle, Oakland, Calif., and a few college towns already have laws making possession the lowest law enforcement priority.

The Denver proposal seemed to draw at least as much attention for supporters' campaign tactics as it did for the question of legalizing the drug.

Tvert argued that legalizing marijuana would reduce consumption of alcohol, which he said leads to higher rates of car accidents, domestic and street violence and crime.

The group criticized Mayor John Hickenlooper for opposing the proposal, noting his ownership of a popular brewpub. It also said recent violent crimes — including the shootings of four people last weekend — as a reason to legalize marijuana to steer people away from alcohol use.

Those tactics angered local officials and some voters. Opponents also said it made no sense to prevent prosecution by Denver authorities while marijuana charges are most often filed under state and federal law.

The measure would not affect the medical marijuana law voters approved in 2000. In June, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that medical marijuana laws in Colorado and nine other states would not protect licensed users from federal prosecution.

Also Tuesday, voters in the ski resort town of Telluride rejected a proposal to make possession of an ounce or less of marijuana by people 18 or older the town's lowest law enforcement priority. The measure was rejected on a vote of 308-332.